Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Witch of Fate’s Great Call - Chapter 34
“Why is he going hunting again so soon after his last trip? Does he love hunting that much?”
Kalynia grumbled to Harriette, clearly perplexed. Recently, Vylon had already gone hunting once to keep a promise he’d made to her, but apparently, he hadn’t had his fill then and was off again.
“No matter how much he loves it, he could just go on his own. Why drag me along?”
This was what she couldn’t understand. She didn’t mind if hunting or puzzles were his favorite pastime—he could enjoy them however he wanted, as long as it didn’t involve her.
It’s not as if she even knew much about hunting. Whenever she went out with her sisters, they would always scold her for being too noisy, scaring off the game before they could even spot it.
“I come along, and all I can do is sit here with nothing to do.”
Harriette gave her a sympathetic smile but wisely refrained from joining in the complaints about the king.
Trying to redirect the queen’s attention, Harriette said,
“I heard from the groundskeeper that there are various medicinal herbs in this forest. Perhaps you could take a look?”
Since her potions had gained popularity, the queen had taken great pleasure in making them again. She no longer gave them out for free but charged enough to cover the cost of ingredients and her effort, and they were still quite popular.
Earning money seemed to have energized Kalynia even more. Harriette suspected she might take an interest in gathering potion ingredients.
“Herbs? Really?”
Harriette’s hunch was spot-on. The queen, who had been grumbling in boredom, stood up at once, eager to explore.
A few hours later, Vylon returned to the camp after finishing the hunt. A heap of game filled the center of the camp, mostly boars, as he had specifically targeted them. He’d managed to catch five himself, and with everyone else’s contributions, there was a large pile.
“Are you trying to wipe out the entire boar population?”
Vylon heard the groundskeeper muttering under his breath. Feeling a bit sheepish, he didn’t turn to face him, realizing he might have gone a bit overboard.
“Hm, the queen is running late.”
Muttering to himself, Vylon headed in the direction Kalynia and her lady-in-waiting had gone. The sun was beginning to set, and it would be dangerous for the two of them to be wandering around the forest at this hour.
“Did they go out too far?”
He walked quite a distance without catching any sight of his wife. Should he send someone to look for them?
He thought she knew her way around the forest, especially considering she’d once hidden there for 100 days to avoid witch hunts. Maybe he’d assumed too much.
Vylon was starting to worry. Just as he was about to order a search, he spotted his wife emerging from deeper within the forest, carrying a basket. It was so full of herbs that the lid couldn’t close properly.
“Vylo—ack, Your Majesty!”
Kalynia, bubbling with excitement, almost called him by name but caught herself just in time. She approached him quickly, her forehead and nose glistening with sweat, evidence of her enthusiasm for herb-picking.
“Look at this! I gathered all these herbs!”
She showed off the herbs proudly, even holding up a handful and boasting about how rare they were.
“Hellebore.”
When Vylon identified the herb, Kalynia looked surprised. Hellebore wasn’t something most people recognized, but he’d identified it at a glance.
When she asked how he knew, Vylon shrugged casually, saying he knew a few things.
For someone who claimed to know only “a few things,” he seemed to know quite a lot. To her amazement, he correctly identified every herb she asked him about. She had assumed he was ignorant about plants, but this revelation changed her perspective.
“There are more of those herbs beyond the creek.”
“Which creek?”
On top of everything, he even gave her valuable information. Kalynia, eager to gather more herbs, asked for directions to the creek.
But instead of sending her off, Vylon took the basket of herbs from her and, linking his arm through hers, began walking back to camp.
“It’s too late today. We’ll go together tomorrow.”
Though a bit disappointed, she had to admit he was right; the sun was almost fully set.
As she nodded, something struck her as odd, and she blinked, realizing they were walking arm-in-arm without her even noticing.
What’s this about?
While she was puzzled, Vylon acted completely natural.
“You must have had a good time, considering you’ve got leaves stuck in your hair.”
Laughing softly, he reached over and plucked a leaf from her bangs. Embarrassed for no reason she could pinpoint, Kalynia quickly turned her head away.
She felt a tickling sensation in her stomach, almost as if she might sneeze.
Maybe she’d inhaled some pollen while gathering herbs?
